Two Tornadoes Confirmed Near Saratoga Springs, New York

Aerial view of tornado damage from a tornado that
struck Thursday in Wilton, New York. Wilton is
 between Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls, NY

 I figured I'd update on that tornado I talked about in yesterday morning's post. 

It turns out two tornadoes hit in and around Wilton, a community between Saratoga and Glens Falls, New York, less than 30 mies from the Vermont border. 

The main tornado was a high-end  EF-1, with top winds of 110 mph,  According to a report from the National Weather Service office in Albans. An EF-2 twister has winds of 111 to 135 mph. 

This tornado traveled along the ground for 1.75 mies and 250 yards wide, NWS/Albany noted. 

I'm impressed that the tornado caused no deaths or injuries, especially since it went through a residential area and crossed the busy Northway, otherwise known as Interstate 87. 

A second, weaker tornado touched down nearby. The brief tornado touched down near Ganesvoort, New York. It had top winds of 85 mph, and was only on the ground for less than a quarter mile. 

Trees crashed through the roofs of some homes. Streets were littered with trees, and cleanup crews spent the day trying to remove the debris. 

The thunderstorm that produced the tornadoes eventually moved into Bennington County, Vermont. However, by the time it reached the Green Mountain State, the storm had weakened. I didn't find any reports of damage in southwest Vermont. 

 

Once Again, Close Miss With The Storms In Vermont, Much Calmer Weather Coming In Today, Tomorrow

A likely tornado near Wilton, NY on
Thursday. The storm was only about
25 miles west of the Vermont border at
the time. The storm that produced the
probable tornado ended up in northern
 Bennington County, Vermont later,
but it had weakened
considerably by then, causing
little or no damage in Vermont, 

It looks like Vermont escaped much trouble from the volatile atmosphere over the region yesterday, but it was another close call.  

The only damage report I've seen in Vermont so far is in Westmore, not too far from the western shore of  Lake Willoughby.  A couple of pine trees were tossed down by severe thunderstorm winds very late in the afternoon. 

Things were much worse early last evening  a little west of Vermont in Saratoga County, New York

A likely tornado touched sown around Wilton, New York. The town is between Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls, New York and a little less than 30 miles west of the Vermont border near Rupert. 

Video on social media shows what appears to be a tornado funnel looking north from Saratoga Springs amid what is clearly a severe thunderstorm. The video also appears to show intense rear flank downdraft winds behind the possible tornado. 

The second floor of  house in Wilton was damaged, and numerous trees were reported down. Additional tree damage was reported across several spots in Gansvoort, which is about five miles east of Wilton. 

The tornado appears to have crossed  Interstate 87 (the Northway) near Wilton and Gansvoort. Fallen trees closed travel lanes.   

So far, no injuries have been reported.

The National Weather Service office in Albany, New York is headed out to Saratoga County today, especially around the town of Wilton  for a look-see to determine for sure whether that was a tornado, or just severe, damaging winds. 

The supercell that caused the likely tornado in New York continued on toward Bennington County, Vermont but weakened as it did so. I've not seen any damage reports out of southwest Vermont from the storm. 

We have an interlude of calmer weather coming in. No more tornadoes for the foreseeable future. Let's get into the daily forecasts

TODAY

One last cold front with this latest weather system is coming through today. We started out with relatively mild air, along with moderately high humidity. 

That won't last. 

The front might fire up some widely scattered showers or even a rumble of thunder in a few places. But those showers won't amount to much and many places won't see any rain at all in the north. There's a high chance that almost nobody in southern Vermont will see any rain, either. 

It's too bad there won't be widespread rain. we need it. Spoiler: I'll have more on the lack of rain in a separate post later today. 

The bonus with this front is we'll get another whoosh  of pleasant weather. This will arguably be the coolest air we've seen since early June. .Cold fronts are starting to have more oomph now as we get near September. 

Highs today will only be in the low 70s north. Southern valleys could make it to around 80 degrees as they will be the last to see the cold front. Much cooler and less humid air will keep flowing in this evening. 

SATURDAY

Still looking like a beauty. It'll start off chilly. Another sign of autumn. Most of us will be in the 40s at dawn. There could be a couple upper 30s in the coldest hollows of the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks. Readings near Lake Champlain will be in the low 50s. 

As usual on calm mornings this time of year, we'll start the day with patchy dense fog. But that'll burn off quickly to reveal a sunny, comfortable day. Some puffy clouds will decorate the sky, especially over the mountains. If you are in the mountains, I guess it'll be only partly sunny. Highs should reach the 70s pretty much area wide. 

No complaints, though. If you were planning an outdoor event for Saturday, the weather gods are totally with you. 

SUNDAY

Another cold front should approach Vermont from Quebec and Ontario. It'll set off clouds and maybe some showers north, but it should still be an OK day, as it looks now. The front is expected to stall in a northwest to southeast orientation somewhere near the Green Mountain State Sunday night. This has implications for the weather next week.

MONDAY-WEDNESDAY

That stalled front will meander somewhere over the Northeast, but it's unclear exactly where. It's also unknown how little disturbances running along the front will behave, and whether this means any decent rains for Vermont.  

A weather set up like this caused some flooding in Rutland County, Vermont in early September, 1985, but flooding from this coming weather pattern is very much a long shot. I wouldn't worry about it. 

A possible second cold front will probably sweep it all away maybe next Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned.  

Vermont Severe Storm Risk, Possible Local Flash Flood Issue, Too.

Areas in dark green and yellow have chances of severe
thunderstorms today. Areas in yellow have a somewhat
greater chance of severe storms than in the
dark green areas. 

We're in for another active day of weather across  Vermont today, but as always, there will be winners and losers. 

A handful of places could get too much wind, too much hail, too much rain, too much lightning. A few other places won't get the rain they need. 

We'll have a storm risk all day, but the big hours to watch will between 3 and 8 p.m. All of Vermont has at least a small risk of isolated severe storms. The best chance of severe storms will be west of the Green Mountains from Middlebury south. 

But, again, anyone in Vermont and surrounding areas could have a severe storm today. 

A warm front is working northward through Vermont this morning. That front could touch off some scattered showers and thunderstorms later this morning. I noticed on radar a few small downpours near Glens Falls, New York heading northeastward toward Vermont as of 8 a.m. today.

You'll notice the humidity increase rapidly this morning and early this afternoon as we get the ingredients in place for this afternoon's expected rough weather. 

The storms will probably come through in lines or clusters, with damaging winds the main threat.   There is a very, very low chance that one or two storms could start rotating enough to produce a brief spin up tornado.  It's been that kind of summer. 

Another issue is the risk of local flash flooding. The ground is dry enough so that a few downpours shouldn't cause any issues. However, we could get some "training" storms, the ones that line up and go one right after another over the same spot, like boxcars moving along a train track. 

If there is any flash flooding, it will be in pretty small local areas. Nothing widespread with this. The best chance of local flooding should be in the southern half of Vermont. As an early guess, I'd be tempted to especially watch Rutland and Windsor counties. But we can't completely rule out some water mischief in the north, either.

So, we have the usual advice. It's probably not the best day to head out onto the lake or go hiking in the Green Mountains. Pay attention to the sky. Dark clouds gathering to the west? Rumbles of thunder? That's your cue to get indoors. 

As always, the National Weather Service will issue warnings and advisories as needed, and the local TV stations will cut in to broadcasting to provide updates if parts of the state are under threat of a bad storm. 

This probably won't be the most extensive severe weather outbreak ever, or even the most extensive one of this stormy summer. But it is something to take seriously if severe weather threatens.  

FRIDAY

The actual cold front should go through tomorrow morning, with not much fanfare. There could be some showers in the morning. The front might be slow enough so that it could squeak out a weak thunderstorm in southeast Vermont, but no biggie.  Then some clearing and more refreshing air arrive in the afternoon and evening. 

SATURDAY

Another winning weather Saturday is in the cards. Dawn will break cool, with temperatures within a few degrees either side of 50.  A lot of river valleys will be pretty foggy, too. But the fog will burn off to sunny skies with afternoon highs in the 70s. The humidity will stay at refreshing levels, too,

SUNDAY AND BEYOND

It looks like we'll be in a zone Sunday afternoon and into the week where a weather front will either windshield wiper back and forth, north to south and back north again for a few days. Or it will stall sort of near us. 

That make it hard to forecast this far in advance. Suffice it to say we'll have daily shower chances Sunday through Tuesday at least.

Interestingly, NOAA's six to ten day weather outlook, issued every day in mid afternoon, has swung decided warm and wet for the opening days of September. It's a long range forecast, so things could change. But it does point toward the chance of some weird late season severe weather to open up the first few days of the new month. 

 

Likely Woodstock, Vermont Tornado To Be Investigated Today, More Inclement, But Not Violent Weather Due

Trees ripped apart on a Woodstock, Vermont hillside
after a likely tornado hit on Thursday. 
Photo from WCAX via Facebook

 Thanks to the fact that everyone has a camera and local TV stations are pretty aggressive when it comes to covering rare, violent weather in Vermont, we're now pretty confident that whatever hit Woodstock, Vermont yesterday was probably a tornado. 

Drone video from Henry's Weather Service shows trees snapped off halfway up, and many other trees felled in varying directions, which are telltale signs of a tornado. 

Video obtained from Tiffany LaRocque taken from inside Mountain Creamery in Woodstock shows intense winds and rain on the edge of the tornado. Trees were falling and the parking lot was full of vehicles as people traveling along Route 4 took refuge there as driving conditions became impossible. 

About 100 people were affected by the probably tornado on the western side of town, WPTZ reports. Thankfully, we have no reports of injuries, which is pleasantly surprising, given how much traffic there usually is on Route 4 where the probably tornado crossed. 

The tornado missed the historic central village of Woodstock, which is a world-renowned tourist hub. Initial reports indicate only minor tree damage in the village center. 

Reports are that National Weather Service meteorologists from South Burlington will head to Woodstock, probably today, to confirm whether this was a tornado.  If that analysis happens, we'll learn how strong the tornado was and how long and wide the path was.

Judging from the drone video, the path of the tornado looked a little longer than most Vermont tornadoes. Twisters in the Green Mountain State tend to touch down and lift almost immediately. 

I'm not sure on the strength of the tornado, but judging from photos and that drone video, I'd say it was an EF-1, which would mean winds of 86 to 110 mph. 

Once the National Weather Service offers a report on the Woodstock storm, I'll write up a new post with the updates.

Heading east from Woodstock, there was additional severe damage. In Quechee, Vermont, a row of large willow trees on a golf course fell. They all went down in the same direction, suggesting straight line wind damage. 

There was also extensive damage in Hartford, Vermont, where a lot of trees fell. 

Nearly 4,000 Vermont homes and businesses were still without power this morning, mostly in southeastern Vermont. Londonderry had 1,100 of those outages, suggesting something nasty rolled through that town yesterday. 

This morning, other trouble spots popped up in northern Vermont, near the Canadian border. The Barton River at Coventry and the Missisquoi river near North Troy were at minor flood stage. Heavy rains yesterday fell atop soils soaked by very heavy rains that hit up there on Sunday. 

We had reports of a lot of street flooding Thursday in Newport and Middlebury. Probably other towns experienced that, too. 

Rainfall was quite heavy in many spots. Burlington had 1.11 inches of rain. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans collected 1.54 inches. A full report on how much rain fell in specific towns will become available later this morning. 

WHAT'S AHEAD?

Thankfully, we're done with the violent weather at least for awhile, but conditions will be unsettled and wet at times. Northern Vermont in particular is in for some showery weather this weekend. 

The out of season, strong low pressure system that gave Vermont the rough weather yesterday is meandering through Quebec. It's rotating little disturbances through here and will continue to do so through the weekend. 

That means frequent bursts of rain,  especially north. Total rainfall through Sunday night will be near an inch over the northern Green Mountains. In most valley towns north of Route 2,  a half to three quarters of an inch will come down between now and Monday morning.   

The rainfall will taper to a quarter inch in central Vermont and less than a tenth of an inch in far southeast Vermont. A  few garden variety thunderstorms and downpours will probably mix in, so a few towns will get more rain than the rest of Vermont as a result. 

A few daily details: 

Today

Mostly cloudy and breezy with west to southwest winds gusting to 25 or 20 mph. Most of the afternoon showers and garden variety thunderstorms this afternoon and evening will be north of Route 2, but some will drift into central Vermont by very late afternoon or the first half of tonight. A few storms might have briefly heavy downpours, but not enough to cause any flooding or anything like that. 

Highs should reach the low and mid 70s in most valleys

Saturday

Probably the worst day of the bunch. Northern areas will see very little sun and frequent showers. Southern valleys will see some sun, but also a risk of a shower. It will be quite cool for the season with highs in the 60s north, with low to mid 70s southern valley floors. 

Hikers should be aware that summits will be wet and cold tomorrow with wind chills in the 40s. If you insist on hiking, it won't be a summertime activity. Dress accordingly. 

Sunday

More showers and garden variety thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon and evening. Highs in the low 70s, give or take. 

 

Stormy Vermont Weather Today To Bring Risk Of Damaging Winds, Local Flash Floods

Areas in yellow have the highest chance of 
seeing at least scattered severe thunderstorms
today. You see Vermont is included. 

 Yesterday was as perfect a summer day you can get in Vermont. The skies were blue and flecked with a few pretty puffy clouds. There was no haze, so the Green Mountains glimmered in their proper color. The air was quite warm, the humidity was gone, and a light breeze made it all feel perfect.  

Today, not so much. 

That strong cold front we've been talking about is threatening us with some really bad weather today. For most of us, it will be merely unpleasant, loud and at times dramatic. For a small minority of us, it could actually be dangerous. 

The two threats today are severe thunderstorms and local flash flooding. There is already a flood watch in effect for the northern half of Vermont today into early Monday. 

Who gets slammed with the worst weather today is mostly the luck of the draw. It depends on where the worst storms set up, and where the heaviest downpours fall.

But it's not entirely a guessing game. We do have a broad idea what will happen. But thunderstorms develop pretty quickly, so the exact spot that gets in trouble becomes clear often only minutes before the actual trouble arrives.  

This is the kind of day that you'll maybe want to rethink outdoor plans like hiking in the mountains or boating across Lake Champlain or a picnic on that gorgeous meadow,. 

You'll also want a way to receive warnings from the National Weather Service. I do think a few severe thunderstorm warnings will go out today. And there might well be a flash floor warning or two, especially north. 

 Severe Storms 

Areas in green shading have a very low, but not zero
chance of seeing a tornado today. Note that 
includes northern Vermont. 

On Friday, we didn't have much in the way of severe thunderstorms because the upper winds weren't very strong. That's not the issue today. Those winds high above us will be strong this afternoon and evening, and they will change direction with height. Storms could bring those high winds down on us. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center early this morning updated their outlook. All of Vermont is in a slight risk zone of severe storms . That's a level two out of five risk level.  Actually a huge area is under that slight risk zone, from the western half of New England, as far west as Ohio, and all the way down the East Coast as far as northern Georgia. 

In all these areas, including Vermont, the biggest hazard  from this set up is strong, damaging straight line winds. 

However, in many areas under this risk zone, there's a risk of a brief tornado. That little twister risk includes Vermont north of Route 4 and northern New York, New Hampshire and Maine. 

The risk of a tornado is very, very low, but not zero. 

The best chance for severe storms is from about noon to 6 p.m. north, possibly lasting a little longer than that central and south. 

Flash Flooding

Weather radar at 10 a.m. showed areas of heavy rain
already starting to move toward far northern Vermont.
Repeated rounds of storms and downpours today 
and tonight could lead to some flash flooding, 

Don't let  today's early morning low humidity fool you, a big surge of moisture is coming in, an is about to interact with that slow moving cold front coming at us from the northwest. 

This will be like the thunderstorm risk: Most places won't have a flood, but there's at least a chance some places will, Especially north of Route 2, and most especially near the Canadian border. 

One area of rain, with a few embedded downpours, seemed to be moving into far northern Vermont as of 9:30 a.m. which could be the start of the soaking up there. 

Waves of thunderstorms and torrential showers should sweep across Vermont today and the first half of tonight, and that's especially true in the north. 

Some areas in northern parts of the sate could see more than 2.5 inches of rain out of this, though most places there will get a little over an inch. 

Individual showers and storms will be moving quite fast. That means just one or two storms moving over the same area won't linger long enough to produce flooding rains. But today,   numerous storms look like they will follow the same path, possibly dumping way too much water for brooks, creeks, ditches and culverts to handle. 

It looks like the latest data supports the idea of a flood risk. Early this morning, northern Maine was under a flood watch. By 8:43, a flood watch went up for northern New Hampshire. Then, at 9:23 a.m., the National Weather Service in South Burlington issued that flood watch for northern Vermont. 

Bottom line: Today is one of those annoying days where we'll be dodging bad and sometimes dangerous weather. Unfortunately, a very few of us might be picked by Ma Nature to end up picking up pieces and filing insurance claims. 

Not just here, but up and down the East Coast. 

REST OF THE WEEK

The good news, I suppose, is that this cold front will usher in some delightful weather tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Highs both days will be in the 70s under partly to mostly sunny skies.

Another strong storm for this time of year possibly looms for this Thursday, but let's worry about today and get to that one later. 

TV Meteorologist Warns Viewers Of Tornadoes As Fire Burns In The Studio His Reporting From

Meterologist Noah Simmons was engulfed in smoke and
fire extinguisher discharge after a fire in the studio that
broke out when he was warning Fort Smith, Arkansas
area residents of impending tornadoes. At least the
green screen was clear, so you could see the radar images.

Have you ever seen that Gary Larson cartoon that shows a building that's on fire, floating down a river and about to go over a waterfall? The sign on that unlucky building says "Crisis Clinic."  

Meteorologist Noah Simmons must have felt like he was in that Crisis Clinic last Saturday.  He was tracking tornadoes that were menacing the Fort Smith, Arkansas area. Then a studio light caught fire.

Full video is at the bottom of this post, but we'll set you up with the run down. 

Since Simmons was dealing with two tornado warnings on Saturday night June 6. A studio light caught fire during this emergency, and producers worked to put the blaze out. 

"So we just had a fire in the studio, but we got two tornado warnings....So we got to keep tracking this and covering this live," as he covered his nose with a button down shirt as he was broadcasting. 

Most of the "smoke" viewers saw was discharge from fire extinguishers.

As People reported, Simmons first noticed some lights flickering in the studio "Five, 10 seconds later, I start to smell a bit of smoke....That's not normal.'

A few seconds later the light in the studio caught fire. 

Simmons was the only person in the studio when the fire started. That's why you see him sort of walk off camera a bit and say, "Guys, we have a fire happening in the studio right now." 

A producer came in armed with a fire extinguisher to douse the flames. The smoke and especially the stuff from the fire extinguisher made it hard to breathe, which is why you see in the video that he pulls his white button down shirt up over his mouth and nose. 

"When you're tracking two tornadoes at the time, I felt there was a need to keep going," Simmons told People .

The radar images showing the tornado-producing storms was clear as it was a green screen image not affected by the smoke. But Simmons, pointing out features on the radar screen,  appears to be in a thick haze.

Simmons said he had a tickle in his throat and watery eyes the day after the incident, but was OK. He said the station had been "gracious" in giving him medical attention.

As it turns out, three EF-1 tornadoes touched down around Fort Smith. EF-1 tornadoes have winds of between 86 and 110 mph. 

The television station in Fort Smith was not the only one dealing with very local disasters. On May 25, television station WDHN in Dothan, Alabama was hit by and EF-1 tornado that damaged the building as you can see in this video. 

Here's the video of meteorologist Noah Simmons dealing with tornadoes and in-studio smoke all at the same time.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Spring Is The United States Storm Season: Dramatic Videos Prove It

Damage from an extreme hailstorm in Springfield, Missouri
in April. Video of the storm is in this post, Photo from 
Springfield Daily Citizen via Facebook

As we all know, spring is the tornado and storm season in the United States. That always leads to some pretty dramatic videos.   

We've got some of them here to let you gawk at Ma Nature at her angriest. Let's get right to it: 

During an outbreak of tornadoes on April 17, the town of Lena, Illinois was hit hard. The tornado was seriously wrapped in rain, so you couldn't see the actual funnel. 

And the parts of town that weren't' actually hit by the tornado were hammered by a wall of intense rain and wind that did its own damage .

The tornado itself was an EF-2 with top winds of 130 mph. 

The video is a web cam that recorded the maelstrom moving into the city. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Also, there's another Lena web cam that has a different perspective basically overlooking the entire town. Click on this link to view that one. 

In our next video, we see the benefits of obeying the safety rules when a tornado seems imminent. 

Two women were keeping track of a tornadic storm on their phones as they sat in the kitchen of a Minnesota home. 

When the wind suddenly picked up. The women quickly decided to run downstairs, with their two dogs in tow.  See in the video what happened next. Spoiler: The women made the right decision. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

On April 23, a massive tornado, an EF-4 with top winds of 170 mph, struck part of northern Oklahoma. It hit the southern edge of Vance Air Force Base before sliding along the southeast corner of Enid, Oklahoma.  It wiped out about 40 homes in a subdivision, but miraculously didn't kill anybody. There were ten relatively minor injuries.

The video below shows that as bad as this tornado was, things would have been much, much worse, had its path been the same, except displaced a little bit to the northwest. Enid is a city with a population of about 51,000. Had it gone through the middle of town, the destruction would have been extreme 

The video is a time lapse from a web cam that overlooks downtown Enid. You can see the tornado come  in from the right side of the view.  It eventually gets lost in an area of torrential rain, but it was still causing its damage even when it was invisible in the rain. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

Springfield, Missouri was hammered by a huge hailstorm on April 28. Some of the stones were at least softball sized, so you can imagine the damage. Sadly, the hail killed an emu at the local zoo. An unknown number of cars were damaged or destroyed, but the number of vehicles wrecked had to be in the thousands.  

At the Springfield-Branson National Airport, hundreds of cars left in the parking lot by people who flew to wherever were trashed, with busted out windows and huge dents. 

Per the Washington Post: 

"Some passengers had to be buses around 100 miles away to the airport in Bentonville, Arkansas because rental cars were damaged. (Airport Public Information Officer Ren) Luebbering said airport staff spent three hours covering the most badly damaged vehicles with donated tarps. 'We think we put 300 or 400 tarps out there on cars," Luebbering said. The airport warned online, 'Expect damage to your vehicle."

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Here's another view of the chaotic Springfield, Missouri hail storm. Again, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 On April 28, an EF-3 tornado caused a lot of damage in Mineral Wells, Texas. The tornado was wrapped in rain and hard to see. In this video. people in a car inadvertently drive to very near the edge of the tornado. The wind is howling on this freeway and debris fills the air. Pretty scary! As always, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

During another round of severe weather in the South,  storm chaser Daniel Shaw was driving near Monterey, Louisiana. They didn't see any tornadoes, but the lightning really put on a show. The video shows plenty of lot of lightning strike and Shaw kept saying they are not getting out of the vehicle. 

The end of the video is what really shocks, literally. Shaw is parked in a Family Dollar parking lot when the building gets hit by lightning. Let's 

 As always click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that: 

Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby's videos often make an appearance in these video highlight posts I occasionally issue. This is not technically one of Rigsby's videos but he stars in it. 

That same batch of lightning barrages affected Rigsby. He was chasing severe storms in Mississippi when lightning struck the Toyota Rav 4 as he sped down a highway. The car is toast.  Rigsby said he is OK, but felt the buzz of electricity when it struck.  He got into another storm chaser's car to continue the hunt for tornadoes.

Inside Edition has the story. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on this. 

So here's something different: A time lapse of an enormous iceberg passing by the town of Ilulissat, Greenland on April 13.  Looks like a mountain kind of saying, "never mind me, just passing through, I'll be out of here in no time. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

For A Change, A Company Does It Right By Employees As A Tornado Loomed

Extreme tornado damage in an industrial area of 
Mineral Wells, Texas that was hit by a tornado
late last month. One employer, Ventamatic, 
took watches and warnings seriously, so they
sent employees home ahead of the storm,
which very likely saved lives. 

 I've written in the past cases in which companies seemed indifferent to their employees as tornadoes bore down on their workplaces. 

For a change of pace, we have a case in which a company protected its employees from a tornado. 

That nobody died is a testament to great warnings from the National Weather Service, a company that enacted its emergency plan and kept a close eye on the weather.

The company in question is Ventamatic which has, or at least had, a manufacturing plant in Mineral Wells, Texas. 

 Company officials on the afternoon of April 28 first noticed a dangerous supercell storm when it was near Wichita Falls, about 80 miles northwest of Mineral Wells. 

An area of Texas, including Mineral Wells, went under a tornado watch, since the supercell was heading in the general direction of tha city. So Ventamatic officials sent all the 120 workers home, because the homes had better protection from tornadoes than the plant. 

Plus, removing the workers meant there wasn't concentration of people at risk. Sending the workers home dispersed them into a wide area.  Many workers went home to houses that were ultimately not in the path of the tornado ,and not damaged.  

Supervisors at the plant also contacted the next shift telling them to hold off on coming in until the bad weather passed. 

The tornado struck the complex as an EF-3 with winds of up to 145 mph. A total of 132 homes and businesses suffered damage.  Nine houses were a total loss and 12 others had major damage. The Ventamatic plant was decimated. 

Aerial video of the industrial complex housing Ventamatic showed leveled buildings and sheet metal strewn everywhere.  The sheet metal must have been swirling wildly in the tornado, enough to cut a person in half if they're hit. 

But there was nobody at Ventamatic to hit.  

Mineral Wells Mayor Reagan Johnson called management a "true, true lifesaver for the community. Incredible that he did that.......Just knowing even what that employer did, the forethought to do that, the awareness, what a hero,!" according to KDFW Fox 4. 

 It appears not all businesses in the manufacturing complex were sent home.  Unconfirmed reports on Facebook indicated employees at a factory called Parker Hannifin were taken by surprise by the tornado and didn't even have time to reach the safest part of the building, which was the bathrooms. 

They instead huddled in a break room, and managed to escape serious injury.

Bottom line, Ventamatic officials were weather aware, had an emergency plan that included what to do when a tornado threatens, and they followed that plan. Perfect!

That contrasts with past incidents involving workplaces and tornadoes. In December, 2021, a huge tornado rampaged through western Kentucky, approaching the town of Mayfield. Workers at Mayfield Consumer Products, a candle factory claim in a lawsuit that supervisors repeated turned down employees requests to go home and hunker down with families, which they believed to be safer than the factory building. 

Some workers left anyway. 

In the end, the powerful tornado leveled the factory, killing nine people and injuring several  more. At last report, the lawsuit had not been resolved. 

On the same night as the Mayfield tornado, another twister struck an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, killing six workers.

As I wrote in December, 2021, a few days after the tornadoes: 

"Tornado warnings for Edwardsville were issued at least 20 minutes before the tornado hit. However, Amazon managers either didn't take the warning seriously, didn't know what to do with them, or more depressingly if true, prioritized production over worker safety. "

In that same tornado outbreak an Amazon driver heard tornado warnings and sirens and wanted to head back to the warehouse or a safer place. A vehicle is pretty much the least safe place to be in a tornado. 

The driver's dispatcher radioed back, "If you decide to come back that choice is yours. But I can tell you it won't be viewed as for your own safety. The safest practice is to stay exactly where you are. If you decide to return with your packages it will be viewed as you refusing your route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job tomorrow. The sirens are just a warning."

Yes! The sirens are a warning! Meaning get to a safe place immediately. But it's all about profits to keep Amazon's multibillionaire owner happy, isn't it?

The issue isn't just tornadoes. 

During Hurricane Helene, supervisors allegedly didn't allow workers to leave the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin, Tennessee as flood waters rose outside. They weren't allowed to leave until it was too late. 

Twelve people were swept away in the floodwaters and all but five of them died.  

Meanwhile, back in Mineral Wells, there were other success stories that prevented tornado deaths. 

Johnson, the Mineral Wells  mayor, said a teenager was home alone but had the presence of mind to hide in a closet as the tornado bore down on their house.  Probably because tornado safety is drilled into Midwestern kids' heads. 

In another case, a husband got into a closet 10 seconds before the tornado hit because his wife was relentlessly nagging him to do so. 

"She's getting a good anniversary present this year, I hope," Johnson said.  

April In Vermont Was Warmer Than Average, Calmer Than Usual (With An Asterisk)

Every April has its wintry setbacks and April, 2026 was
no exception. Here, snow accumulates on forsythias 
on April 19 in St. Albans, but.......

The numbers are in for April''s weather in Vermont and we enjoyed a warmer than average month with near normal precipitation. 

Compared to many past Aprils, this one was pretty easy for most of us. No extreme snows, no statewide wild windstorms. Temperatures were only occasionally out of whack. 

At Burlington, the average temperature was 47.6 degrees, or two degrees above the "new" normal.  I keep calling it that because normal these days is based on the average of 1990-2020. By those years, the effects to climate change had already kicked in, so "averages" are nowadays warmer than what we saw in the 20th century. 

Looking back at 142 years of records in Burlington, by my calculation, it was the 38th warmest April on record. Nothing extreme, but still balmy. 

Other weather stations in Vermont tended to show that April was two to three degrees warmer than average, as well. 

Rainfall in April was about as normal as you can get.  I checked Burlington, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury. Rutland, Woodstock and Bennington, and all of them were with 0.29 inches of the average for the moth. Burlington had 2.95 inches of rain, just 0.12 inches below normal.

While there were days with wide temperature differences across Vermont, we didn't have the extremes we've seen in many recent Aprils. The month's low of 16 degrees in Burlington was the coldest since 2016, But I was able to find 30 Aprils in the past 128 years that had temperatures as cold or colder than that. 

Over in ice box Saranac Lake, New York, it got below zero on April 8. That tied the record for the third latest in the season subzero temperature 

The one moment when weather got volatile in Vermont was during the middle of the month. A weather front pretty much stalled west to east across the middle of the state. Summer-like weather prevailed in southern Vermont while the north stayed relatively cool.

The contrast set up some thunderstorms. One of those storms, a supercell, produced an EF-1 tornado in Williamstown on April 16. The top winds in the brief tornado were 90 mph, which damaged a barn, a house, outbuildings and trees. It was the first Vermont tornado since 2023 and the first April twister on record for the state.  

....the flowers survived and went on to keep blooming
when warmth and sunshine returned later in the month. 

There were also a few reports of golf ball sized hail with that supercell.  Other strong to even severe thunderstorms roamed through southern Vermont on April 14, 15 and 16. 

A sharp, brief cold wave struck on April 20-21, causing some snow to fall. A hard freeze probably damaged some garden plants, but the freeze didn't really interrupt the progress of spring. 

The weather turned dry at the end of the month, which is the worst time of year for that sort of thing. The dry vegetation from last year hadn't greened up yet, and the strong April sun was able to penetrate forest floors because trees hadn't leafed out yet.

At least 15 fires burned around 100 acres in Vermont between April 22 and May 1. That includes a large forest fire in the hills near Ripton that consumed over 50 acres.

MAY OUTLOOK

The April outlook from NOAA before the month started indicated equal chances of warm or cold, and above normal rainfall. It looks like equal chances should  have been applied to precipitation, since rainfall in April was so close to normal.

But to give NOAA another chance, their May outlook calls for temperatures to trend near to slightly cooler than normal for the month. NOAA gives us equal chances of wetter or drier than average month.  

UPDATE: Confirmed:Tornado Last Night In Williamstown, Vermont, Top Wind 90 MPH

A maple sugaring shack collapsed in a confirmed EF-1
tornado that hit Williamstown, Vermont last night

 The National Weather Service in South Burlington confirmed late this afternoon that a tornado did indeed hit Williamstown, Vermont. 

It was a very brief one. It was 100 yards wide and only traveled just under a half mile (the path was officially 0.43 miles long. The tornado hit at 9:15 p.m. and was on the ground for less than three minutes.

The tornado was rated an EF-1 with winds up to 90 mph. Here's the National Weather Service narrative on this one: 

"Initial damage was observed as sheared tree tops about 100 yards west of damage observed on Chelsea Road, to an old sugarhouse and small building estimated as EF0-EF1. Damage continued east to a neighborhood on Lila's Way, where EF-1 damage to a hone was observed, along with damage to numerous trees, Damage then became scattered wind damage in the form of straight-line winds estimated at 60 to 70 mph. Golf ball size hail with siding and window damage observed along Baptist Street,"

An EF-0 tornado has winds of 65 to 85 mph. An EF-1 has winds of 86 to 110 mph 

I have not seen any reports of injuries which is great!

No tornado warnings were issued before the brief touchdown.  My guess is that since the twister was east of the Green Mountains, radar in the Burlington area was unable to pick up ground level rotation. Or the tornado was so brief it hit between radar scans.

The lack of a tornado warning does not appear to be related to Trump administration cut backs to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in South had been tracking the tornado's parent thunderstorm all evening. Rotation was detected over the Adirondacks but it appears no tornado touched down there .

The thunderstorm weakened slightly in the Champlain Valley but re-intensified over and east of the Green Mountains. The NWS noticed how much the reinvigorated storm had intensified. At 9:27 p.m., they issued a severe thunderstorm warning

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 9:27 p.m. for northeastern Orange county and south central Caledonia County. The warning told people in the area to expect 60 mph wind gusts and ping pong ball sized hail.

WPTZ reported that residents were understandably shocked by the storm.  Christian Pratt said he believes the roof of his home was damaged by wind and hail He said the large hail falling on the rood sounded like somebody took a ladder and dumped a load of rocks on the roof. The kitchen window on his house shattered

Vermont averages just one tornado per year. I believe this twister was the first one since July, 2023. This was Vermont's first April tornado on record. The rare occasions when we do see tornadoes usually come during the summer.

Vermont's first March tornado on record occurred just five years ago in Middlebury. 

  

Possible Tornado In Williamstown, Vermont Last Night

Screen grab from WPTZ shows a destroyed barn, and
a collapsed sugar shack (background left). The
National Weather Service is investigating whether
this was caused by a tornado or just strong winds

Personnel from the National Weather Service office in South Burlington are in Williamstown, Vermont, investigating a possible tornado. 

Video from WPTZ showed a destroyed barn on Chelsea Road in Williamstown was destroyed and a collapsed sugar shack collapsed.  Debris was visible tangled in damaged trees. 

 Judging from the video, damage was confined to a limited area. .Trees on the other side of a field behind the wrecked structures looked mostly fine. 

An apparent supercell thunderstorms crossed the Adirondacks early last evening, then moved west to east across central Vermont.  There were reports of hail up to size of golf balls and wind damage in Barre and Orange, which are near Williamstown.

I'll have full update on this once the National Weather Service finishes their survey and reports on their findings. That will come later today or tomorrow morning. 

Another Odd Tornado Disaster Location: Portugal

Damage left behind after a tornado killed an elderly woman
and injured several others recently in southern Portugal

Earlier this month it was Brazil, now it's Portugal. 

As in Brazil, a destructive, deadly tornado hit a campsite in Albulfeira, Portugal.  Numerous trees fell in the campsite, including one that killed an 85 year-old woman from Britain. The tornado seriously injure two other people  and caused minor injuries to about 20. 

Alburfeira is on the central southern coast of Portugal. Video showed what appeared to be a partly rain-wrapped tornado moving through an area that seems like a very nice tourist district. 

 The tornado was part of a larger system, dubbed Storm Claudia, which caused serious flooding in northern Portugal and in  Great Britain. 

Two people were reported killed by the flooding in northern Portugal

Severe flooding also hit southeast Wales, near the English border, where as much as 4.7 inches of rain fell.

The town of Monmouth, Wales was inundated as the River Monnow rose to a record high level. Other flooding was reported in other parts of England and in Ireland. 

There's been a spate of tornadoes in places that historically do get tornadoes. But the recent twisters have been unusually deadly and destructive. 

Earlier this month, a strong tornado killed six people, injured about 750 and essentially leveled a large town in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.

In October, another strong tornado swept through Ermont, France, a city about 13 miles north of Paris, killing one person, injuring several others and causing widespread damage.  

Rare, Strong Tornado Kills 6 In Southern Brazil

Aerial view of a town in southern Brazil destroyed
by a tornado in the past week. 

A powerful tornado this week virtually leveled a community in southern Brazil, killing at least six people and injuring around 750. 

Per CNN:

"Winds may have topped 250 km/hr (155 mph) in the ravaged town of Rio Bonito do Iguana, according to Simper, the state's meteorological service. The tornado affected approximately 90 percent of the residences and commercial buildings in the municipality, according to the state government."

A tornado with 155 mph winds is a rather high end EF-3 tornado, so it's a major one. 

The tornado and the city affected was in the southern Brazilian state of Paraña. The state's governor, Ratinho Jünior said the tornado was an "unprecedented catastrophe in the history" of the state.

This was among the worst tornadoes in Brazilian history, but twisters are fairly common there. Especially in the southern areas of the nation where this one hit. 

Estimates on the number of Brazilian tornadoes varies, but the best guess is they have 50 to 60 per year. Most of the twisters are relatively weak, but that's true in places that have frequent tornadoes, like the United States. 

Video:

Very good news report on the Brazil tornado from Al Jazeera. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Quick Hitting, Fast Storms To Zip Through Vermont/New England, Windy, Maybe Snow, Too?

The last leaves of autumn clinging to the trees in St.
Albans on Monday under overcast, gusty skies. 
The leaves won't last much longer on those trees.

 The first in a series of fast moving storms zipped through yesterday and last night, spraying us with a little rain, and gusts of winds. 

The next week or so will feature more of the same: Lots of wind, quick hits of rain, which won't be particularly heavy, and, with each passing cold front, increasing chances of snow with temperatures stepping down with each front. 

Since temperatures will stay cool, especially in the mountains, this might portend an early ski and riding season. 

Each storm will deposit a little snow in the mountains. More importantly, for resorts that want to get an early start, like Killington the chilly air has the snow guns blasting. 

WPTZ reports Killington had 175 snow guns firing away on their slopes this past weekend. I'm sure they will have plenty of opportunities to make snow in the coming week to 10 days. It'll trend colder than normal, especially as we head into next weekend. 

There's no word yet on when Killington will open, the resort says they hope to open soon. 

The series of modest, but gusty storms could gradually increase snow depths on the northern Vermont summits over the next week. I wouldn't be surprised if the top of Mount Mansfield and Jay Peak have close to a foot of snow on the ground by this time next week. 

Unlike recent oddly mild Novembers, this one is shaping up to be more traditional in Vermont: Windy, overcast, unsettled, with occasional cold rain and wet snow. Lovely. 

THE DETAILS

The first gusty storm, as we know, went through with light showers yesterday and last night. 

This storm got weird in Massachusetts. A brief tornado might have touched down around Somerset, near Fall River late last night in southeast Massachusetts. Other nearby towns had strong, straight line winds.

It looks like the National Weather Service will investigate those reports. 

Nothing like that in Vermont, but you'll still feel those blustery winds today.

Places on and near the east slopes of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains could see gusts as high as 45 mph.  That would be enough for some isolated power outages. 

Most of us should stay dry, though the Northeast Kingdom should stay with the showers into the early afternoon. High spots like Jay Peak will probably see some snowflakes. 

The next storm comes at us fast, zipping in from the west, strengthening as it does so.  It won't have a huge amount of moisture to work with, so we'll just have periods of light rain and Wednesday afternoon and some gusty showers tomorrow night. There could even be a rumble of thunder. 

Rainfall with the Wednesday night storm will probably run from about a tenth of an inch south and maybe a third of an inch north.  Not enough to help with the lingering drought, but it won't hurt, either! 

The back side of the storm late Wednesday night and Thursday will feature winds even stronger than today.  We might see a wind advisory as gusts could reach 50 mph in a few favored spots and 40 mph in quite a few other locations. That could cause a few scattered power outages once again.

The gales of November indeed.

On Thursday morning, those of you living at or above 1,500 feet in elevation could wake up to a slushy coating of snow. Mountain summits could see a few inches of snow, we'll see!

Another quick system comes in Saturday, but shouldn't be a biggy.

Things could get interesting with the next zippy storm Sunday. A blast of really cold air should come behind that one, which could give valley floors, even in the warmer Champlain Valley, some snow. It's too soon to say how much, but we do know it won't exactly be a tremendous blizzard. 

It'll probably be closer to a dusting in the valleys, with several inches up in the mountains. 

You know how the first snow of the season is in Vermont.  A dusting of snow, and the fact that people have somehow forgotten how to drive in the winter can turn a simple drive to work into a real, frustrating and sometimes scary mess.

I'm already dreading next Monday. 

But, forecasts can change, so we'll keep an eye on it.  

First EF-5 Tornado Since 2013 Confirmed In North Dakota. It Happened In June

Screen grab from a video of the EF-5 tornado in
Enderlin, North Dakota. The tornado happened at
night, and when this image was taken, it was
illuminated by lightning. 

A tornado that struck near Grand Forks, North Dakota has received an EF-5 rating, the most powerful kind of tornado, and the first such twister to hit the U.S. since 2013, the National Weather Service said Monday.  

The tornado actually hit back on June 20 in Enderlin, North Dakota with estimated winds of 210 mph. It killed, three people, stayed on the ground for a little more than 12 miles and was about a mile wide at one point. 

The tornado derailed a freight train, tipped over several fully loaded grain hopper cars and lofted tanker cars, including one empty tanker care that was tossed about 475.7 feet, according to the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 

National Weather Service meteorologists usually visit the damage path of a tornado within a day or so of it occurring to start assessing the strength of the storm. It often takes days or weeks of analysis to come up with a rating for a tornado.  This one took longer to analyze because the damage it caused on the train was unusual, the Associated Press reported. 

The tornado also left trees in a river valley with only stubs of large branches or trunks remaining. The bark was torn off the remains of the trees. Other trees were entirely uprooted and moved away from their original spot. 

An EF-5 tornado is the worst of the worst. Their winds are 200 mph or more. They're strong enough to shred a well-built home and just leave a bare concrete pad standing. Sometimes the twister will take the concrete pad, or parts of it. An EF-5 tornado can peel bark from any trees left partially standing after the storm. These tornadoes can suck the pavement off of streets, and dig trenches in fields. 

It used to be the U.S. would have an average of one each year. Some years have none, a few have a handful. 

But until this tornado, there hadn't been an EF-5 since May, 2013 when a twister of that strength trashed Moore, Oklahoma, killing at least two dozen people. 

In the North Dakota tornado, a home was entirely swept away and disintegrated, leaving a concrete slab, which would indicate a possible EF-5.  But investigators noted that the anchor bolts on the house might have been substandard, so they couldn't use the house to declare an EF-5. It took the damage to the train to seal the designation. 

As I wrote in March, part of the reason for the long EF-5 drought might have been the way they were measured. 

Before 2007, if a tornado swept a house entirely off its foundation and shredded it, it was considered an EF-5.   Starting that year, such damage was designated as having been created by high-end EF-4 tornadoes.  

So, that rule change meant that some tornadoes between 2013 and 2025 that might in the past would have been rated EF-5 ended up being rated EF-4. Researchers think that as many as 13 EF-4 tornadoes since 2008 would have been EF-5s had not the change been made.  

Odd Saturday Moment: Rare, Long-Lasting Tornado In Remote Southeast Utah

Navajo Nations Police Department today 
post this photo of a large tornado in 
(checks notes) remote extreme 
southeast Utah. 

Tornado alley in a remote corner of Utah?

An often large tornado spent at least an hour intermittently on the ground around Montezuma Creek in extreme southeast Utah. 

That's very close to the Four Corners, where the borders of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. 

The tornado and rotating supercell thunderstorm was still at it around 2 p.m. local time ( 4 p.m. Eastern). It appeared to be crossing the state line and heading into extreme southwest Colorado

The Navajo Nation  Police Department said so far, three homes had been damaged but there were no injuries. 

Police were warning people to say off the roads and to see shelter. The Utah Highway Patrol and San Juan County Sheriff's were en route to the area to help, 

Tornadoes are fairly rare in Utah, as the state averages about two or three per year. However, this part of Utah almost never sees tornadoes. Especially ones as large as this one, and those that last a long time like this twister has. 

San Juan County, where today's tornado hit, also had one back on July 12, said Matthew Cappucci of MyRadar Weather Radar. 

 The area where the tornado hit was only under a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms, a low level alert in which only isolated instances of severe storms were forecast. Tornadoes were not predicted. 

Severe thunderstorms have been expected further south in New Mexico.

An upper level low centered near the storms apparently created enough spin in the atmosphere to support supercells and the tornado.  

The tornado and severe weather hit on what has been an otherwise relatively uneventful weather day in the United States. 

Vermont's Last Shot At Rain Diminishes, Severe Threat Southeast

Forecast rainfall for day. Most of Vermont only gets
 a third to a half inch, with more possible southeast
This will be the last appreciable rain for possibly
as long as two weeks or more, so the drought
will worsen again. 

As feared, meteorologists have backed off on the amount of badly needed rain we'll get today. Plus, the southeast corner of Vermont is at risk for severe storms. 

We'll take any rain we can get, and it will rain all over Vermont today. So that will very temporarily halt the drought's worsening trend. But after today, it's over.  The sky faucets shut off again and we go back to rainless skies. 

After today, almost no rain is anticipated for at least a week, save for some scattered sprinkles Sunday and again maybe Thursday. 

The forecast weather pattern is atrocious for drought relief possibly through the rest of the month. It features one dry, huge high pressure system after another coming through, with weak, moisture-starved cold fronts announcing each one. 

I hope the following is wrong, but it's possible (not definite!) that Vermont could receive only a half inch or less of rain through the rest of the month after today.  The already nasty drought would get much, much worse under that scenario. 

We'd better hope for some surprises coming up. Perhaps a dying tropical storm could pass by. Or one of those weak cold fronts could unexpectedly pick up some good moisture from the Atlantic Ocean of Gulf of Mexico. But so far I don't see it. 

Time to do rain dances, folks!

TODAY'S RAIN/SEVERE THREAT

In general, today's cold front will bring a third to three quarters of an inch of rain. 

The Northeast Kingdom appears to be the region most cheated by this round of rain. Or lack of it.  That region got mostly just 0.05 to 0.2 inches of rain early Friday. In today's round, only another third to a half inch of rain is expected. 

Northwest Vermont will probably receive even less rain today, maybe a third of an inch or a little under that. But the rain there Thursday night and early Friday was generous, dumping as much as 1.53 inches in Fairfax, 1.3 inches in St Albans and close to an inch elsewhere in the northern half of the Champlain Valley. 

Severe thunderstorms, maybe even a brief 
tornado are possible in the dark green and
especially yellow areas of this map today. 
Notice it clips southeast Vermont.

Plus, parts of northwest Vermont got some bonus showers overnight. Burlington had about a quarter inch around midnight and my unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans, collected 0.45 inches on top of the 1.3 inches from Thursday night. 

Once again, the rest of Vermont, which needs the rain more than the northwest corner of the state, missed out on last night's showers.  

The most rain today would fall over far southeast Vermont. That's good because they've missed out on a lot of the paltry rains we've gotten.  Places like Brattleboro and Springfield could see anywhere from 0.75 to an inch of rain if the downpours line up just right. 

Southeast Vermont could pay a price for those good rains in the form of severe thunderstorms. The rain in northwest Vermont overnight was the actual cold front, which has temporarily stalled around Vermont,

In the northwestern two thirds of the Green Mountain State, it will just be rain today, with perhaps a rumble of thunder in central Vermont.

However, in the humid air ahead of the front, a narrow risk zone of severe storms extends from New Jersey through central and southern New England and on into Maine and New Hampshire. This severe weather risk zone clips southern Vermont, south and east of a line from Manchester to White River Junction, with the greatest threat south and east of a line from Bennington to Springfield. 

The atmospheric dynamics are great, so a band of strong to possibly severe storms should come through those southeast regions this afternoon.  There's going to be some spin in the atmosphere, too, so that could generate a few supercell thunderstorms. Which introduces the low but not zero chance of a brief tornado or two down in extreme southeast Vermont, and in southern New Hampshire, southwestern Maine and northwest Massachusetts. 

The rough weather should be out of Vermont before evening. You'll notice temperatures dropping statewide this afternoon, so if you're going out, bring a hoodie along with the rain gear. 

Tomorrow should be cool and partly sunny, except mostly cloudy in the northern mountains. There could be some brief, light showers, especially in the northern Greens. 

When Tornadoes Get Romantic

The bad pun people among us are calling
this a whirlwind romance. Storm chaser
Bryce Shelton proposes to Paige
Perdomas recently as a large
tornado loomed in the background
near Clark Lake, South Dakota.
She said yes 

 Nobody could resist calling this a whirlwind romance. 

On June 28, Bryce Shelton got down on one knee to propose marriage to Paige Berdomas. She said yes.

The reason why everybody knows about this is because of where the proposal took place. It was on a rural road near Clear Lake, South Dakota, which is no big deal. Except for the fact a large tornado was swirling nearby at the time.  

The now viral photo shows the proposal.

Both Shelton and Berdomas are storm chasers, two of the now-seemingly zillions of people who roam the Plains, South and Midwest in the spring and early summer, hunting down tornadoes and severe storms. 

The two first found each other online in the chaser community then finally met up one day in Iowa. They've been partners in storm chasing since. 

On the day of the tornado/proposal, the couple had been hanging out around Fargo, North Dakota, waiting for forecasted storms to develop. 

Finally, a promising storm popped up near Watertown, South Dakota about halfway between Fargo and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the chase was on. The storm eventually spun off the Clear Lake tornado, and by extension the proposal. 

The proposal had to be near a tornado. That was the rule.  

"She has always told me that if I was gonna ask her to marry me, she wants it be in front of a tornado," Shelton told USA Today. 

The whole thing at first glance looks kind of AI-generated, but in this case the proposal - and the tornado behind them, was very real. The tornado was more photogenic than most. In fact, it was among the most photographed twisters of 2025 so far. 

Which made the proposal photo perfect. 

To be fair, the real proposal was captured on a live stream with a tornado in the background. Storm chaser Brian Copic re-created the moment a short time later after a second tornado touched down. That's the photo you see in this post. 

The couple are hoping for calmer weather on their actual wedding day. "No tornadoes for the wedding. I want to wear a pretty dress," she said. 

Another romantic tornado. This time at a wedding 
ceremony in eastern New Mexico back in late May.

 I do have mixed emotions about this. The tornado also destroyed somebody's house, damaged others and injured a man. I guess people can find both joy and tragedy in the same event. 

This isn't the first marriage-related tornado incident I've seen. 

Tornadoes have been been known to be wedding crashers every once in a great while. 

On May 25, during an outdoor wedding in eastern New Mexico, a tornado touched down some distance behind the venue. 

Wedding photographer Chesnea Clemens spotted the tornado, then realized it wasn't headed in their direction, so they didn't have to take cover now if not sooner.

Instead, she hustled the couple to spot with a view of the tornado. The happy couple kissed under dark skies while the tornado twirled behind them. "Nothing says for better or worse like saying I do with Mother Nature throwing down in the background," Clemmons posted on social media.

As cool as these incidents are, if there are wedding bells in your future, I hope  your big day has clear, calm weather.